It is often desirable to have shelving in a home, office or warehouse adjacent a smooth flat wall. Typically, a free standing shelf unit may simply be placed at the desired location. Alternatively, wall brackets may be used to support the shelves directly on the wall. However, in many cases it is desirable to install shelving that is vertically adjustable, that is whereby the height of individual shelves may be changed from time to time in relation to each other and to the floor.
Many such adjustable shelves exist. However, such shelf systems suffer from a variety of disadvantages. In one common shelf system, the shelf unit includes a frame. Attached to the frame are four vertical tracks. Each track receives a shelf supporting bracket which can be placed at any desired vertical location along the track. Such a shelf system typically requires an expensive and possibly heavy frame. Furthermore, the design of shelves may be limited to particular designs which may not be suitable for all decors. Also, such units generally are freestanding units. For safety reasons it may be desirable to attach such a free-standing unit to the wall, but in many instances this may be difficult to do. Of course built-in designs are possible, but such designs are relatively expensive, time consuming to construct and limited in their portability.
Accordingly, hanging shelf systems easily attachable directly to the wall have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 illustrates a shelf system wherein the shelves are attached to four chains which are suspended from brackets attached to the wall. A disadvantage of U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 is that the means for attaching the shelves to the chain specifically require the use of chain. In other words, other vertical support means such as rope or smooth tubular members (which may be desirable for aesthetic or other purposes) could not be used. Both in U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 and in many other shelf designs, means are provided for attaching a shelf to a specific vertical support member. However such attachment means are limited only to the use in association with the specified vertical support member.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a means for attaching a shelf to any vertical member which is convenient to use, reliable, inexpensive, and yet which does not detract from the aesthetic appearance of the shelves.